All Press Releases

You are here

Congress has always run D.C. like a plantation. But now, GOPers want to jail the mayor over a law the voters overwhelmingly passed?

I’m desperately trying to understand how getting marijuana laws passed nationwide has become today’s Selma, but if there is one thing that is intolerable it’s the shameful way congressional Republicans are bullying the residents of Washington, D.C., to not blaze in the comfort of their homes.

“The action by the House of Representatives today to ban the District of Columbia from spending its own locally-raised tax dollars to support legal abortion is a violation of the fundamental American principles of federalism,” said DC Vote Executive Director Kimberly Perry. “While we are pleased that President Obama has indicated he will veto the bill if it reaches his desk, we ask supporters of democracy across the country to contact their representatives and Senators and urge them to oppose HR 7.”

Congress has been using its oversight authority to intervene in local DC law, so at the start of the 114th Congress, DC Vote, a national civic engagement and advocacy organization, will channel the anger of democracy supporters to in turn “disapprove” of efforts by lawmakers to undermine DC democracy.

DC Vote issued the following statement regarding the release of a FY2015 federal spending bill that includes a new rider intended to preemptively block the DC Council from enacting legislation that is already in force in several states.

Today, four members of Congress participated in a press conference to support DC initiative 71, which was supported by 65 percent of DC voters on November 4. Those members include DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), and Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO).

The hearing on S. 132 today conducted by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee highlights an enduring blemish on American democracy. American citizens residing in the nation’s capital continue to be denied democratic rights that every other American enjoys.